Remember a couple of days ago state Secretary of Transportation Lynn Peterson came on my show and I was asking her, what are all these workers that are working on the tunnel project doing now that Bertha has sat idle for more than two months? She told me not to worry about them, they’re still working to deserve their paychecks.

Here’s a portion of our conversation:

Monson: I asked you a couple months ago, all the people who are working on the project who are involved in the actual excavation, what is happening with all those people? Are they just on a paid vacation right now?

Peterson: No. They’re not. There’s a lot of work going on within the tunnel and at each end there’s hundreds of folks that are employed by this project and they all have work to do in the meantime.

Monson: That’s hard for me to imagine. So all the people who are involved in the excavation of the ground, the excavation has been halted for two months and there’s enough other work for them to do? Is it busy work or is it necessary work?

Peterson: It’s all very necessary work.

Very necessary, they’re all very, very busy still even though Bertha has sat idle. I’ve just gotten from a listener a video that may put that to the test.

In all fairness, we don’t know what time of day this was taken. It could have been a lunch break. It could be before or after shift. But it’s a video of what according to the listener who sent it to me is two Seattle tunnel workers asleep in a Seattle Tunnel Partners truck.

On the side of the truck it says “Seattle Tunnel Partners” and there is a worker sitting in the passenger seat, head is down, his chin is down on his chest, he looks to be sound asleep. According to the listener who sent it to me, who I assume is the one that shot the video, they’re both asleep.

You heard what Lynn Peterson told me. This video of workers asleep in the truck would seem to dispute her statement.

Just the idea that while you’re part of this multi-billion dollar project that has been just riddled with nothing but problems from the get go, that you have such disrespect for the people who pay your salary that you don’t mind taking a little snooze in the truck while you’re on the job.

I’m from this old school of thought that you don’t sleep at work. It’s a pretty bad message to send to your employer if you come in and take a nap during your work day.

Especially when you’re employer is the public, when an incredibly percentage of people are still unemployed, underemployed, they’re just struggling to put food on the table, and you don’t mind sitting in your Seattle Tunnel Partners truck taking a nap while Bertha sits idle, and while everybody is questioning the validity of the project that is paying your salary – you just go and take a nap?